The Sony Xperia 1 VII’s secret weapon is a content material creator’s dream
Sony has unveiled its flagship smartphone for 2025 within the Xperia 1 VII, and whereas it would look very acquainted, there’s lots to get enthusiastic about right here – particularly in case you’re a content material creator.
However not like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo and different smartphone producers, Sony hasn’t thrown a plethora of lenses at you with the Xperia 1 VII – it as a substitute comes all the way down to a brand new software program function known as Auto Framing.
The idea is refreshingly easy; as you file a video in common 16:9 panorama mode, you’ll additionally be capable of seize a 19:6 (portrait) video concurrently. What’s extra, you’ll be able to faucet in your topic to trace it because it strikes across the wider shot, and you can even modify the extent of zoom and side ratio.
It would sound acquainted, and it ought to; it’s a function beforehand unique to Sony’s top-end Alpha line of DSLRs.
This may very well be an actual boon for content material creators because it lets you file an everyday horizontal video for, say, a YouTube channel, whereas concurrently capturing portrait content material for the likes of Instagram and TikTok – no enhancing and no re-shooting required. Each movies are saved individually within the telephone’s Gallery app, that means you’ll be able to swap and select as you’d like.
Even in case you’re not a content material creator, the power to seize, say, a close-up of your child’s first steps whereas recording a wider scene, shall be helpful for a lot of little doubt.
In fact, that’s not the one factor new with Sony’s Xperia 1 VII. The telephone additionally boasts a brand new 50MP ultrawide to take a seat alongside the returning 48MP foremost and 12MP 3.5x-7.1x optical zoom lenses, boasting a 1/1.56-inch sensor that’s 2.1x larger than that of its predecessor.
That ought to translate to an enormous increase to total efficiency with extra gentle and improved readability, but it surely must also assist ultrawide low-light pictures – an space the place ultrawide snappers normally battle, no matter value level.
Sony’s doubling down on audio
Audio efficiency has additionally been improved courtesy of Sony’s Walkman model, with Walkman-branded tech together with a premium-grade audio built-in circuit and high-quality gold solder within the headphone jack to minimise transmission loss.
And sure, I mentioned headphone jack as a result of the Xperia 1 VII as soon as once more sports activities a headphone jack, in addition to a microSD card slot – two belongings you very hardly ever see on smartphones in 2025, not to mention on the flagship stage.
If wired playback isn’t your factor, the increase to Bluetooth transmission energy ought to enable for a extra secure wi-fi headphone connection, even in congested areas.
The identical, however totally different
The display screen has additionally had a little bit of TLC following its rethinking with the Xperia 1 VI, providing a 20% increase in peak brightness. There are additionally two illuminance sensors to permit for extra correct display screen brightness changes, although that may be a bit area of interest – even for Sony.
In the case of the all-important efficiency, count on the identical top-end efficiency as flagships just like the Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Sony claims it has labored onerous on the cooling with this technology, so hopefully we received’t have a repeat of the Xperia 1 V’s overheating points – however we’ll have to attend and see for now.
Returning options embrace two days of battery life from the telephone’s 5000mAh cell, together with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and IP56/68 safety. It additionally provides an improved 4 OS upgrades and 6 years of safety patches that, whereas higher, nonetheless falls effectively wanting the seven-year providing from Samsung, Google, Honor and others.
It appears like a fairly tempting telephone from a {hardware} standpoint, but it surely comes all the way down to the all-important pricing. UK pricing is but to be introduced, however provided that final yr’s Xperia 1 VI got here in at a not-insignificant £1,299, it is likely to be too onerous to justify for some. I’ll definitely be placing it via its paces within the coming weeks to see for myself!
Editor’s be aware: We’ve used pictures of the Xperia 1 VI as an instance this text. As soon as we obtain imagery of the brand new Xperia 1 VII, we’ll replace this text.
